Typically, gas turbine engines include a compressor for compressing air, a combustor for mixing the compressed air with fuel and igniting the mixture, and a turbine blade assembly for producing power. Combustors often operate at high temperatures that may exceed 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Typical turbine combustor configurations expose turbine blade assemblies to these high temperatures. As a result, turbine blades must be made of materials capable of withstanding such high temperatures. In addition, turbine blades often contain cooling systems for prolonging the life of the blades and reducing the likelihood of failure as a result of excessive temperatures.
Typically, turbine blades are formed from a root portion at one end and an elongated portion forming a blade that extends outwardly from a platform coupled to the root portion. The blade is ordinarily composed of a tip opposite the root section, a leading edge, and a trailing edge. The inner aspects of most turbine blades typically contain an intricate maze of cooling channels forming a cooling system. The cooling channels in the blades receive air from the compressor of the turbine engine and pass the air through the blade. The cooling channels often include multiple flow paths that are designed to maintain all aspects of the turbine blade at a relatively uniform temperature. However, centrifugal forces and air flow at boundary layers often prevent some areas of the turbine blade from being adequately cooled, which results in the formation of localized hot spots.
Localized hot spots, depending on their location, can reduce the useful life of a turbine blade and can damage a turbine blade to an extent necessitating replacement of the blade. Often, conventional turbine blades develop hot spots in the trailing edge of the blade. While the trailing edge of the turbine blade is not exposed to as harsh of conditions as a leading edge of the blade, the trailing edge requires cooling nonetheless. Many conventional cooling systems in the trailing edge of a turbine blade consist of a plurality of pin fins for increasing the cooling capabilities of the cooling system. Most pin fin cooling systems lack control of the cooling fluid flow through the trailing edge. Instead, the cooling fluids flow with relatively little boundaries. The lack of control of cooling fluid flow necessitates increased cooling fluid flow to insure that all portions of a trailing edge be adequately cooled. Such increased cooling fluid flow negatively affects the efficiency of the turbine blade cooling system. Thus, a need exists for a more efficient trailing edge cooling system.